Stamford's Palladino turning Loyola School into titletown

Rich DePreta

Updated 10:55 pm, Friday, March 22, 2013

Stamford resident David Palladino has spent four years coaching the junior varsity followed by the last five seasons as girls basketball varsity head coach at Loyola School on Park Avenue in New York City.

Palladino has received help developing his coaching philosophies from a number of interesting sources over time.

"I've been a faithful Metro-North commuter. I actually get a lot of work done on the train," Palladino said. "Whenever I break out my notebook to start diagramming plays, people sitting around me get very interested. It seems everybody has an opinion about coaching basketball."

The good news is that Palladino has been able to separate the helpful hints from the chaff. The Loyola School girls basketball team has advanced to five consecutive New York City Athletic League (NYCAL) finals with the Lady Knights taking home the last four NYCAL championship titles.

"Five years ago, we lost in the finals on a basket at the buzzer. Otherwise it would be five consecutive titles," Palladino said. "We recently put up new banners on the gymnasium wall. It turns out the last time Loyola won back-to-back titles was 1976 and 1977. So this is a very special run. We don't want it to end. Every new group of players come in hungry for success."

What makes Loyola School's standard of excellence more rewarding in the six-team NYCAL is the fact Loyola's overall enrollment of girls this year was less than 100.

"We had our smallest turnout ever for tryouts (20 girls)," said Palladino, who teaches history and theology at Loyola. "We had just enough girls for the varsity and junior varsity."

The coaching staff also gets their exercise filling in during practice scrimmages when the injury bug hits.

But the Lady Knights have made things work as Palladino owns an 88-36 coaching ledger including 33-9 in NYCAL play over his five seasons as head coach.

"We don't get too many ready-made players. Our focus is on player development," Palladino said. "The girls work hard every day. We don't have the luxury of talent where we can step on the court and win like (perennial New York City girls basketball champion) Christ the King. We maximize everything we do have. But it is more rewarding to win titles with people striving to be better players."

Living in Stamford has worked to Palladino's advantage in another way.

"I was able to tape all the UConn women's basketball games when they were televised on CPTV (Connecticut Public Television)," Palladino said. "The way those UConn teams (especially the Maya Moore era) worked together. It was a fortuitous opportunity for a young coach like me.

"My first year as varsity head coach the coaching staff took the team to a UConn women's game at St. John's," Palladino continued. "To see them in person was special. And (former Trinity Catholic High standout) Da'Shena Stevens was playing for St. John's."

How much longer Loyola can continue their postseason excellence of basketball execution only time will tell.

"Basketball is fun when it's played well. It's great when a group can put egos aside, come together and work toward one common goal. You can't get past that in so many other areas of life," Palladino said. "Seeing the girls celebrate the culmination of lots of hard work is what excites me the most.

"The cooperative spirit of basketball is a lesson for life," Palladino continued. "The confidence the girls get on the basketball court carries over to the classroom. They are successful women not just successful basketball players."